Hammerhead

Hardcore with a Punk or Punk with a Hardcore edge. Who knows, who cares? All one needs to know is that Hammerhead is Germany's most relevant Hardcore Punk Band. Alongside 7Inch Boots (later renamed Bohren & Der Club of Gore) and Charley's War, Hammerhead was one of the first German bands to play hardcore influenced by New York bands such as Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags. At the time, they were part of the emerging straight edge scene. However, the band broke away from this image shortly afterwards and switched to aggressive hardcore with German lyrics influenced by nihilism. The band also focused more on provocation. For example, they used a photo of the hostage-taker from Gladbeck as the photo for their first LP cover. This was followed by concerts with bands such as GO!, Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Extreme Noise Terror, SFA, Yuppicide, Hot Water Music, and Lemonheads, as well as a European tour with the band Bad Trip. Controversial were performance bans in some of the German concert venues, which were based on the band's alleged political incorrectness and the organizers' fear of riots. Television appearances in the mid-1990s included MTV and the talk show Arabella. In the mid-1990s, Hammerhead had a decisive influence on the change within the scene from hardcore to a return to the roots of punk rock. In 2024, the band released a new, highly acclaimed album "Nachdenken über Deutschland" 24 years after the last album.